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Secondary sourcePainting12th century

The Buddha Distributes Honey, Prajnaparamita Manuscript

12th century

A 12th-century painted palm-leaf manuscript from West Bengal showing a scene of the Buddha distributing honey.

This manuscript painting depicts a scene from the Buddha's life as part of an illustrated Buddhist scripture.

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Long, narrow palm-leaf manuscript leaf with dense lines of script in black ink, divided by painted panels. Three seated painted figures with haloes appear in the panels; the central figure in red robes is seated and surrounded by attendants.
The Buddha Distributes Honey, Prajnaparamita manuscript, West Bengal, 12th century. Freer Gallery of Art, F1930.87.

About this source

What it is

This is a palm-leaf manuscript page from a Prajnaparamita text, painted with opaque watercolor and ink in West Bengal in the 12th century. It shows the Buddha, seated in red robes and surrounded by attendants, in a scene depicting him distributing honey. It is held at the Freer Gallery of Art.

Why it matters

This manuscript shows how Buddhist scriptures were illustrated with scenes from the Buddha's life in medieval India, combining sacred text and image on a single page. It reflects the artistic traditions of Buddhist manuscript-making in Bengal and how stories about the Buddha were preserved and transmitted.

Look closer

  • What details can you see in the painted panels, and how are the figures arranged?
  • Why might an artist combine text and image on the same long, narrow page?
  • What might this manuscript tell us about who commissioned or used it?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Buddha on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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